McDonald's Makes Online Connection With Local Workers And Communities

Oak Brook, IL-McDonald's "McState" project,
which involves the creation of employee-recruitment and
community-relations Web sites with addresses that include the
chain's carefully protected "Mc" preface and a state
name, launched in August. The first two such sites, www.McMinnesota.com and www.McWisconsin.com, had soft
launches on August 18 and formal premieres on August 26 that
featured point-of-purchase promotional materials, advertising
support and a related online contest.

McDonald's 16-state Midwest division is fully behind
McState, because the concept initially was proposed to the chain by
Kuehl Operations of Hays, Kansas, a four-unit franchisee that has
had success hiring online through its own Web site.

Between August 18 and September 5, the two new sites experienced
almost 42,000 unique visitor sessions that generated 121,596 page
views, McDonald's said. Nearly 8,700 of those people came back
a second time to pump up gross log-on numbers to 50,300. During
that time, McDonald's representatives reported, store-level job
seekers submitted a total of 324 digital employment
applications.

"We were blown away by the number of job applicants,"
said Steve Tompos, McDonald's Corp.'s senior manager of
communications for the Midwest division. Tompos added that the
chain has to "follow up with the operator community" to
analyze at what rate online applicants were hired and the length of
their employment "to give us a better business case [to talk
about] going forward."

McState sites feature "Apply Online" areas and
restaurant locators as well as links to the chain's national
Web site, McDonalds.com; its Spanish-language site, lomcximo.com;
its Internet play area for kids, Ronald.com; and the benevolent
Ronald McDonald House Charities, or RMHC.com.

If successful in the Midwest, the McState concept is expected to
be adopted by some or all of the chain's four other U.S.
divisions. -Nation's Restaurant News